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The Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg already had about 70 train cars and locomotives, but it’s now in the process of getting four more. These new additions, however, are just a little different from the rest: they’re painted on the museum’s side wall.

The locomotives are part of a mural that has been in progress since the end of May and is expected to be finished before July. It will officially be dedicated on Aug. 12 at 1:30 p.m. as part of Railfest, a three-day event at the museum meant to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Reading Railroad’s Bee Line service.

In addition to serving as Railfest’s visual centerpiece, part of the reason for having a large mural was to increase community awareness of the museum, which is inconspicuously housed in an old industrial building.

“It’s like a hidden treasure, and this mural I think will really raise awareness that it’s even here, because when you drive by you don’t even know there’s anything here,” said Carrie Kingsbury, the mural’s artist. “Murals are really a great way to add value to a property, to add a lot of visibility and awareness.”

Kingsbury was chosen to paint the mural after a competitive selection process, which began last fall. She’s been a professional muralist for 15 years, but said that the wall at the museum has one of the most challenging surfaces she’s had to work on.

“It’s been the roughest as far as surface texture that I’ve done, so it was a nice challenge, and now I can say I’ve worked on all kinds of difficult surfaces,” Kingsbury said. “To try to do realism on that is really challenging … the trick is to make it all seamless.”

There are four locomotives represented on the mural, painted in order from the oldest to the most recent. On the far left is the Crusader, a blue and silver steam engine from 1939 with a stainless steel cladding. Next is a first-generation diesel locomotive, followed by 2100, which was the largest locomotive built in the Reading shops. Lastly, the locomotive farthest to the right in the mural is 5513, which was one of the last locomotives purchased by the Reading Railroad, in the 1960s. Kingsbury said she’s most excited to paint the smoke from the trains, which will be the final detail she adds to the mural.

The funding for the mural came partially from the Our Town Foundation’s Hamburg Area Arts Alliance, a group that supports the arts in the community. Sherwin-Williams and Kuzan’s Hardware provided in-kind sponsorships toward the mural, and the remaining cost was paid by the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society, an all-volunteer group that operates the museum.

The museum, which sits on a seven-acre site, currently has about 70 pieces of equipment, and Carol Adams, the chairwoman of community outreach for the historical society, said the next goal is to pay for a simple building that can house some of the machinery.

“We have a building fund, and it’s coming along, but we have a ways to go,” she said. According to the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society’s annual report for 2016, the estimated cost for a building that could hold up to 12 locomotives and rail cars and protect them from the elements would cost $250,000.

The historical society has nearly 1,000 members and about 80 active volunteers. Adams has been a volunteer at the museum for about 20 years.

“We believe that the Reading Railroad was a very important part of society here in this area – all of southeastern Pennsylvania – since it began in 1838,” Adams said. “It really fueled the industrial development of the area, bringing coal from the coal regions up in Schuykill County and above, straight to the ports in Philadelphia and all the industries along the way.”

More information on the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum and Railfest is available on the museum’s website, http://www.readingrailroad.org. Railfest ticket prices start at $15 and can be purchased in advance either online or by calling 1-800-838-3006.